TUI Cruises Starts Homeporting Season in Portugal

TUI Cruises Starts Homeporting Season in Portugal

The Mein Schiff 6 recently kicked off a series of cruises to Western Europe and Morocco departing from Leixões in Portugal.

Located near Porto, the homeport serves as the starting point for two seven-night itineraries that sail to other destinations in Portugal, in addition to ports in Spain, Morocco, the United Kingdom and France.

Heading north, one of the itineraries features visits to Vigo, La Coruña, Bilbao and Le Verdon before returning to Leixões.

The second weeklong cruise heads south and includes stops in Lisbon and Cádiz, as well as Tangier and Gibraltar.

Guests are also able to book a 14-night voyage that combines both itineraries into a single cruise that does not repeat ports of call.

The Mein Schiff 6 will continue to offer similar cruises departing from Portugal through early September, when it is scheduled to embark on a repositioning voyage to the Western Mediterranean.

Sailing from Leixões to Palma de Mallorca, the eight-night cruise sails to a mix of destinations in Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

Highlights of the open-jaw itinerary include visits to Lisbon, Cádiz and Tangier, in addition to Málaga and Barcelona.

After a short fall season in the Mediterranean, the 97,000-ton ship embarks on a 53-night repositioning voyage to Southeast Asia.

The three-part cruise starts with a seven-night cruise to the Canary Islands that sails from Palma de Mallorca.

The 2,500-passenger ship will then operate a 20-night voyage to Cape Town, visiting Morocco, Cape Verde, Namibia and South Africa.

Before arriving in Singapore in early December, the Mein Schiff 6 also offers a 25-night voyage to the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia.

Departing from Cape Town, the cruise will sail to South Africa, Mauritius, Réunion, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Malaysia.

As part of its 2026-27 winter season in Southeast Asia, the 2,534-passenger ship is set to offer a series of 13- to 15-night cruises to Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and more.

Built at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland, the Mein Schiff 6 was delivered to TUI Cruises in May 2017.

Royal Caribbean Cuts Steel for Second Icon Ship

Royal Caribbean Cuts Steel for Second Icon Ship

Royal Caribbean International has marked the initial milestone – the first cut of steel – for the second ship in the Icon Class.

In celebration of the next in the lineup, a steel-cutting ceremony was held at Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku, Finland.

The soon-to-be-named ship will set sail in 2025, following the debut of Icon of the Seas in January 2024, according to a press release.

The Royal Caribbean and Meyer Turku teams dedicated to building the second Icon Class ship were in attendance at the traditional ceremony.

The major milestone represents the official start of production, beginning a series of key moments in the design and construction that spans months and involves thousands of innovators across design, naval engineering, architecture and more.

Keel Laid for Mein Schiff 2

Meyer Turku shipyard

The keel for the new Mein Schiff 2 was laid today at the Meyer Turku shipyard. This important production milestone marks the beginning of the hull assembly, the yard said.

She will be a sixth ship build by Meyer Turku for TUI Cruises. Delivery is scheduled for early 2019.

The new Mein Schiff 2 will be a sister ship to new Mein Schiff 1, which will be delivered from Meyer Turku  in the spring of 2018.

The new class will be 20 meters longer (315m) than Mein Schiff 6. Both ships will have space for 2,894 guests.

TUI Cruises CEOs Wybcke Meier and Frank Kuhlmann were present at the keel laying and were one of the VIP guests to weld coins under the keel of the ship.

“It is always great to visit the shipyard and to see the progress with our coming ships. With new Mein Schiff 1 and 2 we will get two great new ships to lead our fleet in the coming years. We are very happy to see how these ships are taking form," said Meier. 

Of note hte yard is also adding a new massive gantry crane to help speed up cruise ship production times. 

“We have just floated out the newly developed New Mein Schiff 1 and will now begin directly assembling its sister, New Mein Schiff 2, from pre-produced grand blocks. It shows the increasing pace that we are working at, while at the same time implementing our large investment program with the large goliath gantry crane being only one example of it. Working on our ships and our capabilities will prepare us for the increasing international competition," added Jan Meyer, CEO of Meyer Turku. 

2 New Icon Class Cruise Ships Ordered By Royal Caribbean

Photo of Anthem of the Seas under construction.

Article by http://www.cruisehive.com/

 Royal Caribbean has announced that it has agreed to order two liquefied natural gas (LNG) powered cruise ships from Meyer Turku in Finland. Even though it is early stages the ships will accommodate around 5,000 passengers each.

The newly designed vessels which are currently known as Icon Class are scheduled to be delivered in the second quarter of 2022 and 2024. The ships will dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions with LNG technology.

Richard Fain, chairman and chief executive officer of Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd said: 
“With Icon class, we move further in the journey to take the smoke out of our smokestacks.”
“We are dedicated to innovation, continuous improvement, and environmental responsibility, and Icon gives us the opportunity to deliver against all three of these pillars.”

The Icon class ships will mainly be powered on LNG but will also use distillate fuel for ports which can’t accommodate the infrastructure. The cruise line will be announcing further details including design, tonnage and specific details in the future. Until then, Royal Caribbean must still focus on new Oasis and Quantum class ships which are currently on order.

Image By: Royal Caribbean

Meyer Turku Delivers Mein Schiff 5 Ahead of Schedule

Mein Schiff 5 delivery. Credit: Meyer Turku

Thanks to https://gcaptain.com

Finnish shipyard Meyer Turku on Monday delivered the cruise ship Mein Schiff 5 to TUI Cruises a full ten days ahead of schedule. 

Construction of the vessel began in November 2014 shortly after the Turku shipyard, formerly part of STX Finland, was acquired by State of Finland and German shipbuilder Meyer Werft. The order for Mein Schiff 5 – and Mein Schiff 6 – was actually finalized with the completion of the acquisition in September 2014. The vessels are sister ships to Mein Schiff 3 and Mein Schiff 4, completed in May 2014 and May 2015, respectively.

“Although this is already our third new build, it’s still incredibly exciting to see a new ship grow from the first steel cutting to the finishing interior touches. In a good two-year construction period, countless people have dedicated themselves to turning ten million components into our ship. We are looking forward to finally putting Mein Schiff 5 into service in mid-July,” said Wybcke Meier, CEO of TUI Cruises.

On Tuesday the Mein Schiff 5 and her approximately 1,000 crew members are expected to set sail for Kiel, the first German port of call where the ship will dock on June 23, 2016.

The 99,800 gross ton Mein Schiff 5 measures 295 meters long and will be able to accommodate 2,794 passengers. The vessel features an exhaust gas scrubber system that reduces sulphur emissions by approximately 99 percent and nitrogen oxide emissions by around 75 percent. Combined with other eco-friendly technologies, energy consumption of theMein Schiff 5 is estimated to be 4 percent lower than on the sister ship Mein Schiff 3, making the vessel one of the most energy-efficient ships in its class.

“We had the unique opportunity to build on the high standard and success of Mein Schiff 3 andMein Schiff 4 to further perfect this series of ships with Mein Schiff 5. We are immensely proud of the result. This is in no small measure due to the trust and excellent cooperation with TUI Cruises,” Dr. Jan Meyer adds.

The keel for Mein Schiff 6 was laid in April.

Meyer Werft in Papenburg: new technology center

Meyer Werft in Papenburg: new technology center - Grundsteinlegung by two trainees

New Technology Center of the Meyer Werft - Grundsteinlegung by two trainees Meyer Werft

Today the foundation stone for the new Technology and Development Centre at the Meyer Werft in Papenburg was laid.Kendra Schulte (19), dual student of the course Shipbuilding and Ocean Industries and Björn Abeln (22), mechatronics in the third year of training, laid the foundation stone for the new center. "We are pleased that we can take on this task for the foundation stone", so Kendra Schulte.

Photo: Meyer Werft

Bernd-Carsten Hiebing, Chairman of the CDU district council fraction of the county Emsland and board member of the CDU parliamentary group, and Jan-Peter Becht air, Mayor of Papenburg, praised by today's groundbreaking ceremony and the associated large investment the renewed strengthening of the site Papenburg. The continuous development and innovation of MEYER WERFT, which today is one of the global leaders in the cruise shipbuilding, have a tremendous positive influence on the employment situation in the city, the region and across the country.

Due to the constantly rising number of employees and the very good order situation at the yard, which in Finland was made possible by the commitment with MEYER TURKU, the decision to build the new Technology and Development Centre was required. In the new building complex large parts of the design and development work for the new building complex of the shipyard will be bundled. A total of more than 500 designers and engineers to work in the future on the various topics of the cruise ships, resulting in Papenburg. The new building will offer approximately 6,750 m² on 5 levels.

"We always need to be well ahead of our competitors technologically and offer a cost-optimized, despite a high standard of quality. Only with top trained for the developers and engineers in the correct working environment and with enough space for creative thinking, we create this balancing act ", says Managing Director Lambert Kruse.

The total investment for the new development center, which also includes a completely redesigned entrance and conference area with so-called. Meet-and Greet- areas belongs, is around 10 million euros. This includes the latest building control techniques and energy-saving measures, such as the use of geothermal heat and cooling by geothermal energy. The new five-storey building will be built in accordance with the standards of a passive house.

The construction should be completed by mid-2016. "The successful development of the site Papenburg has always had top priority for me. We are as agreed in the job security agreement, keep our part of the agreement", said Bernard Meyer.

In addition to the Technology and Development Centre, the shipyard will expand the canteen area and expand the buildings for own and contractor employees and modernize to become more so the increasing demands.

Costa Cruises to build world's largest passenger ships

By Hollie-Rae Merrick 

Costa Cruises is to build two 6,600 passenger ships, making the vessels the largest in the world by capacity.

The Carnival Corporation-owned brand will launch the new ships in 2019 and 2020. The two vessels will be built at the Meyer shipyard in Turku, Finland, and will be the first ships powered by Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

The announcement of the new ships for Costa is a significant statement about the brand’s recovery following the Costa Concordia tragedy in 2012.

The Costa new builds will have 600 more passengers than Royal Caribbean’s Oasis class, which will remain the largest cruise ships in the world by size.

Costa’s ship order is part of parent Carnival Corporation’s multibillion dollar contract with two Meyer shipyards in Finland and Germany.

Carnival’s deal with the shipyards is for a total of nine new ships between 2019 and 2022, including the two newly announced Costa ships.

Michael Thamm, chief executive of the Costa group, said: “These ships will expand the leadership position for the Costa Group, the market leader in all major continental European markets.

“The multibillion dollar contract with Meyer mirrors our strategy to constantly innovate our vacation offers and to deliver an unmatched cruise experience to our guests.”

Neil Palomba, president of Costa Cruises, said: “The two Costa ships are a real innovation for the market, setting new standards for the whole industry: they will be the first green ships powered with LNG and they will offer an extensive number of guest-friendly features.

“The order also confirms that the Costa brand will continue to grow, becoming even stronger and keep on generating a positive economic impact in the main countries where it operates, including Italy.”

Meyer Turku Shipyard starts operations, secures two more options from TUI Cruises

Meyer Turku Shipyard starts operations, secures two more options from TUI Cruises

Meyer Turku Shipyard

The Finnish state and Meyer Werft have finalised the purchase of the whole share capital of STX Finland Oy from STX Europe Ltd. The company's new name is Meyer Turku Oy. In addition, Meyer Turku and TUI Cruises have agreed on two new options, for Mein Schiff 7 and 8, for delivery in 2018 and 2019.

The acquisition agreement was announced in early August, subject to German antitrust authority approval. This has now been granted and financing with the commercial banks has also been obtained.

Meyer Turku is constructing Mein Schiff 4, scheduled to be delivered in May 2015, plus a further two more vessels ordered over the summer and due in 2016 and 2017.

Meyer Werft holds 70% of the shares whilst the Finland took a 30% stake through the Finnish Industry Investment Ltd, a fully government-owned investment company. The investors have injected fresh equity into the company.

'We now have a great chance to make the Turku yard strong again,' said Jan Meyer, ceo of Meyer Turku. 'It will not be easy; the competition in our market remains intense.

'Yet we found a strong and committed team in Turku,' he continued. 'In addition there is a lot of potential to learn from each other for the benefit of all our yards in Papenburg, Warnemünde and Turku. We just have to work hard on it and constantly improve our productivity. This is the only way to ensure that we can continue the great legacy of Turku yard for many years to come.'

Jan Vapaavuori, minister of economic affairs, expressed his satisfaction after the purchase. ‘The Finnish shipyards’ know-how is very important for the whole maritime industry in Europe. It is a high-tech industry. We have great expectations from our important investment in the Turku shipyard,’ he noted.

The Turku facility employs 1,350 people and concentrates in building cruise ships, car-passenger ferries and other specialized vessels.

STX Finland shipyard to be sold

By Jerry Limone

German shipbuilder Meyer Werft and the Finnish government have agreed to acquire STX Finland from South Korea-based STX Corp.

Meyer Werft will buy a 70% stake, the Finnish government 30%. The acquisition is subject to clearance by antitrust authorities and banks.

STX Finland has a shipyard in Turku; a shipyard in Rauma was sold to the Finnish town earlier this year. The plan is to rename the company Meyer Turku Shipyard.

The Turku yard built the Mein Schiff 3, a TUI Cruises ship that entered service in June. STX Finland is currently constructing the Mein Schiff 4, and TUI Cruises this week reached a deal for two more ships of the same class to be constructed at the Turku yard.

STX also has built many ships for the North American market, including Royal Caribbean's Oasis and Allure of the Seas.

Meyer Werft’s Papenburg yard built Celebrity’s Solstice-class and Norwegian Cruise Line’s Breakaway-class ships. The yard is constructing Norwegian’s Breakaway Plus and Royal Caribbean’s Quantum-class vessels.